In Higher education, lecturers’ functions include teaching, research and community engagement. Within these functions, academics face many challenges. This paper reports on the process of a collaborative reflective partnership between two academics so as to better understand our professional challenges. The aim was to gain insight into our academic selves and the influences thereon with a view to advancing our teaching and research. We asked the question: What have we learned about our academic selves through collaboration and self-reflection? This qualitative single case study set in a South African linguistically diverse, multi-cultural university, is within a reflective practice and socio-cultural conceptual framework, data were generated through two reflective activities and the analysis was inductive. Reflective arts-based visual metaphors and written reflective narratives revealed not only insight into our academic selves and the influences on our teaching and research practices but also the value of individual and collaborative reflection in better understanding the challenges we face as academics.

Authos: Loraine Prinsloo-Marcus, Bridget Campbell

Published in: Ireland International Conference on Education (IICE-2023)

• Date of Conference: 24-26 October, 2023
• DOI: 10.20533/IICE.2023.10.0006
• ISBN: 978-1-913572-68-6
• Conference Location: Dún Laoghaire, Ireland